DO WE WANT TO SAVE OUR FUTURE? LET US START WITH THE RAINFORESTS

DO WE WANT TO SAVE OUR FUTURE? LET US START WITH THE RAINFORESTS

It seems everyone is planting trees these days—from government offices to corporations, from schools to Sunday hikers. On paper, that’s a beautiful sight. Even DENR is out front with its National Greening Program (NGP). But here's the problem: everyone’s planting trees, and yet we’re still losing forests. Why? Because we’re planting without a national vision, without a common goal, and without understanding the science behind the trees we plant.

And so, may I propose something clear and urgent? Let’s make the revival of our watersheds and rainforests a national goal.

Let’s be honest: the forests are gone. Illegal loggers, greedy politicians, short-sighted policies—they’ve all played a role in turning our once-lush mountain ranges into bare, flood-prone slopes. Those trees held water in their roots. They slowed down rain, filtered it, and fed it gently into our rivers. Now, the rain comes—and it rages. Water rushes down unchecked, flooding cities, destroying crops, and leaving nothing in the ground to feed our watersheds.

But that’s history. What matters now is the future. And we still have time to write a better one—if we act with purpose.

Let’s get technical for a moment. What’s the difference between just any forest and a rainforest? According to Microsoft Copilot (a handy assistant for facts like these), a rainforest is a type of forest that gets over 2,000mm—or 80 inches—of rain per year. These places are dense, alive, and biodiverse. And more importantly, they are sponges—natural systems that hold and slowly release water. That’s what our watersheds desperately need.

Now, I’m not naïve. We’re not going to grow a genuine rainforest overnight. True rainforests can take centuries to develop. But why should that stop us from beginning? We didn’t take a hundred years to destroy the forests—we did that in a few decades. So maybe, just maybe, we can start healing in our lifetime too.

But if we’re serious, we must learn from past mistakes. Let’s not repeat the failures of the National Greening Program. The NGP became more of a box-ticking exercise than a real ecological solution. Trees were planted—yes—but where they were planted, when they were planted, and what trees were planted? Those details were often ignored. Sometimes, the seedlings were overpriced. Sometimes, they were “recycled.” (Yes, that’s code for corruption.) That’s not reforestation. That’s a government project for paperwork and press releases.

So here’s a better approach: plant native trees. Not exotic, invasive species like mahogany or gmelina. Sure, they grow fast. But they don’t help. In fact, some reports suggest that gmelina sucks up all the water in its area, depriving other species of moisture. If our goal is to support the watershed, not just check a tree-planting quota, we need species that hold water—not steal it.

This is where real science must guide policy. Certain trees thrive in specific soil types. Certain planting seasons yield better survival rates. Let’s stop acting like all tree-planting is equal. It’s not. The wrong tree in the wrong place is just as harmful as no tree at all.

But there is good news. All over the country, there are NGOs, citizen groups, and scientific communities that are doing the work DENR should have done better. One shining example is the Philippine Native Tree Enthusiasts (PNTE). These groups understand biodiversity. They work with local communities. They plant for ecosystems, not for photo ops.

So, what should we do?

First, let’s investigate what happened to the NGP. The public deserves to know how much was spent and what results we got.

Second, let’s realign our tree-planting strategy with a single, unifying purpose: restore the watersheds and revive the rainforests. Not all forests are equal. Rainforests are the gold standard—and while we may not get there soon, we must aim in that direction.

Third, let’s work with those already doing it right. Government doesn’t have to do it all. Civil society and local experts can help. All they need is recognition, support, and coordination.

In a world that’s heating up, drying out, and flooding more often, this is not just an environmental issue. It’s an issue of food security, public health, and national survival.

Let’s stop thinking of tree planting as charity. It’s strategy. It’s survival. And it’s time we do it the right way.

Ramon Ike V. Seneres, www.facebook.com/ike.seneres
iseneres@yahoo.com, 09088877282, senseneres.blogspot.com

08-26-2025